Teachings of Shiva

Experience of Shiva is something that words alone cannot explain.

The self realization of understanding Shiva and the realization that he is none other than our own consensus is the only way to have the experience of Shiva.

The real understanding of Shiva cleanses the mind and soul.

It is futile effort to search for Shiva unless we in ourselves  accept that Shiva is someone who is formless and someone who is within every living soul it is impossible to benefit from the wisdom of Shiva.

In one of his teachings he compares our heart to a boat traveling in a turbulent sea. The boat only sinks in the sea only when it allows the surrounding water to enter it.

So how does this compares to our heart ?

He compares anger, frustration, hatred to the water that surrounding the boat. If as in the case of water we allow these outside feelings enter our heart that is when our heart sinks in the bad deeds of this world as the boat does.

There are plenty of explanations that stems out of Lord Shiva`s teaching that will steady our thoughts and help us to lead peaceful life.

Shiva is not a religious experience Shiva is a personal experience that gives us a meaning to lead a passive life. At times each individual go through a period of uncertainty thinking that the life they lead has not yielded a meaning full result that they could be proud of.

That is the time when we need to let our thoughts flow in the direction of Lord Shiva`s teachings. It does not force us into believing some thing that we do not trust. It gives us a fourth dimension of explanation which could relate to any religion.

Love is god , God is love. That is Lord Shiva`s basic Mantra

Sakthi Sakthithasan

SHIVA - How he got the name Chandrashekara?

 

 Shiva became Chandrashekara –

Daksha Prajapathi got married his 27 daughters Ashwini, Bharani, Kruttika, Rohini, Revathi etc., to Chandra.  But Chandra showed special care to Rohini amongst 27 wives.  (He did so because in this Nakshatra that Krishna would be born in Dwaparayuga.  So he showed special affection to Rohini).  

On seeing this other wives complained to his father Dakshaprajapathi that Chandra is not looking after all his wives equally.  Daksha, got angry, and cursed Chandra to have  ”kshaya” disease.  As such, Chandra affected by the disease, started losing his quality and deteriorated to a very very tiny size.  

Chandra went to Shiva and sought his assistance, who kept him on his head, so he became “Chandrashekara” and told him never to go out of his head. Chandra’s wives not finding Chandra anywhere, again pleaded his father, to search for their husband.  Not able to trace him, Daksha, came to know that Chandra was given refuge in Shiva’s head.  He asked Shiva to leave Chandra.  

But Shiva refused saying that once he gives protection, he can’t leave him.  They went to Srihari, who came in the disguise of a brahmachari and gave the pratibimba of Chandra to his wives.   The original Chandra was there on the head of Shiva only, the Chandra, which we are seeing on the sky, is the pratibimba (amsha of Chandra) which Srihari gave to us taking out of Shiva.

Gods have amshamshibhava.  So, one amsha of Chandra was taken out from Shiva and gave to Daksha prajapati.  Then only Chandra decided to do samsara with his 27 wives equally.  That is why we have one month called as Nakshatra Maasa.

(Source Brahma Vaivarthya Purana by Sri Vedavyasa Devaru)

Thanks - http://www.strangeronmyshelf.in/2011/02/some-unknown-facts-about-lord-shiva.html

Lord Shiva and his best devotee Nandi

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There was once a sage called as Shilada. Shilada did not have any children. of his own, but he adored children. He wanted to adopt a child, but he did not want to adopt just any child. He wanted a special child blessed by Lord Shiva. So he worshipped Lord Shiva for many years.

Lord Shiva finally appeared before Shilada, 'What boon do you seek, Shilada?'

'A child. I wish to have a child, Lord Shiva.' Shilada said bowing before Lord Shiva.

Shiva smiled. 'You shall have it soon' He said and vanished.

Shilada returned home a happy man, knowing that the Lord would bless him with a very good child. The next day he went to the farm to begin his ploughing, when he found a beautiful baby in the field before his plough. The baby's skin glowed with a beautiful white light.

Shilada stared at the baby transfixed, when he heard a voice from the heaven, 'SHILADA, TAKE THE CHILD. BRING HIM UP WELL!'

Shilada was overjoyed as he took the boy home. He named the boy Nandi. Right from his childhood, Nandi was devoted to Lord Shiva. Shilada brought up the child with love and care. Shilada taught the child the Vedas and gave the child a good education. Nandi was a brilliant boy and learnt everything very fast. Shilada felt very proud of the child .

Some years later, two sages – Mitra and Varuna came to Shilada's home. 'Welcome great sages!' Shilada gave the rishis some refreshments, 'Please sit and make yourself comfortable.'

'Nandi!' Shilada called his son. Nandi came from inside the house. 'Nandi please make sure these sages are well looked after.'

Nandi smiled and nodded his head. 'Yes father!'

Nandi looked after the two sages well and after enjoying the stay, the sages said that it was time they left. Before they were about to live, Shilada and Nandi both prostrated before the two sages.

Mitra and Varuna first blessed Shilada, 'Have a long and happy life, Shilada. You have made us very happy!'

When Nandi fell at the feet, the two sages looked slightly sad. Slowly they said, 'Be well son! Be good to your parents and your teachers!' And they walked off, outside the house

However Shilada noticed the change in the expression of the sages. He ran outside the house, 'Great rishis!' He said breathlessly. He turned around and made sure that Nandi was inside the house and could not hear him,  and talked to the sages, 'You looked sad while blessing my son!' Shilada said feeling terrified, as he was thinking of unpleasant things...'Is...is something wrong?'

Mitra looked at Shilada with pity, 'I cannot wish your son a long life....' Mitra said softly.

Shilada looked in absolute panic. 'What is going to happen to my son?' He whispered.

'Your son, does not...' Varuna cleared his throat, '...does not have long to live, Shilada. I am sorry...' He said lamely, looking at the horrified expression on Shilada'a face.

Shilada stood there transfixed for a long time. After a long time, he slowly walked back home with stooping shoulders and a broken heart.

Nandi immediately guessed something was wrong, 'What is it father? What happened? What...' Nandi asked, vigorously shaking his father.

Slowly and painfully, Shilada narrated his conversation with the two sages.

He expected Nandi to be scared or even that Nandi would even start crying. However Shilada was surprised when he heard Nandi's laugh. 'You were scared of what the sages said!' He said still laughing.

Shilada wondered what could be so funny and looked at his son without any expression.

'Father, you have told me that you have seen Lord Shiva...' Nandi said with great devotion in his eyes. 'Anybody who has seen Lord Shiva cannot be afraid of what the sages just said.'

Shilada still looked dumbly at his son, not understanding. 'Father, it is my fate to die, then Lord Shiva can reverse my fate! He is the most powerful God and can do anything. Do you think he would let anything happen to us, when we worship him?' Nandi looked at his father challengingly. 'I don't think so., father..' Nandi said softly.

Shilada looked at his son as if looking at him for the first time. Slowly Shilada nodded his head and smiled. 

 

Nandi bowed to his father. 'Bless me father!'

Shilada blessed his son, 'Be victorious my son!'

Nandi then went near the River Bhuvana. He entered the river and began his penance. His devotion was so great and his concentration was so high, that Lord Shiva appeared almost instantaneously.

'Nandi, open you eyes!' said the three eyed God tenderly, looking at Nandi.

Nandi opened his eyes and before his eyes stood the most beautiful person he had seen in his whole life. Nandi looked at the God wanting to savour his image. He felt that he had nothing more left to ask. If only I could stay with the Lord always...

Shiva looked at Nandi with lots of love, 'Nandi, you penance was so powerful that it dragged me here immediately! Ask me anything I will grant it to you!' Shiva said.

'Lord I wish to be with you always.' The words were out of Nandi's mouth before he could stop them.

 

 

Shiva smiled. 'Nandi I have just lost my bull, on which I used to travel. Henceforth Nandi, you shall have a face of a bull. You shall stay in my home at Kailash. You shall be the head of all my Ganas...You will be my companion, my vehicle and my friend, always!'

Nandi closed his eyes as tears flowed through them. The Lord had granted him his wish and a lot more...

Since then Nandi became Shiva's vehicle, doorman, his companion and the head of all of Shiva's attendants – the Ganas. Thus by sheer devotion Nandi was not only able to overcome his fate, he also rewrote it!

A few days later the Devas and the Asuras together churned the ocean for nectar. However the first thing that emerged from the churning was the poison Halahal. The poison was so strong that it threatened to destroy the whole world. To protect the world, Lord Shiva collected the poison in his hand and swallowed it. Goddess Parvati who was near Lord Shiva clutched Shiva's throat to make sure that the poison was stored in the throat and would not affect Lord Shiva.

However some Halahal slipped out of Shiva's hands and fell on the ground. Nandi gathered the fallen Halahal and seeing his master drink it, he also drank it!

The Devas were staring shocked at what Nandi had done! Lord Shiva was a God and besides he had Goddess Parvati to protect him, so nothing would happen to Lord Shiva. But Nandi...

However nothing happened to Nandi. Shiva looked at the dumb folded gods and smiled, 'Nandi is my greatest devotee! All my powers are his too and Parvati's protection will go to him too!'

The three of them smiled and then returned to Kailash.

 

Thanks : S.A.Krishnan ( http://hindumythologyforgennext.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/nandi-vehicle-of-lord-shiva.html)

Parvati the student ...... Lord Shiva the teacher ------------ Life on earth the lesson

Lord Shiva meditated for thousands of years , through this relentless meditation he mastered the art of detachment this is the main reason that he is hailed as Maha Yogi.

As the chapter of Sati(Human form of mother Sakthi) closes with destruction of Thakson`s selfish pride Lord Shiva grieves the loss of his dear wife Sati. This episode manifests the lesson of the bond between the husband and wife.

Lord Shiva disappears in the wilderness trying  to re  establish the greatness of detachment , the process through which he further isolates himself from the worldly affairs.

The great Adhi Sakthi in the quest of being with Lord Shiva and make him a complete form takes another form as Parvati this time having the great Parvatha Rajan as her father.

It is for the wellbeing of the Universe that prompted Parvati to bring Lord Shiva back closer to the world after the years of meditation. The wisdom that Lord Shiva gained through his years and years of meditation was needed to be applied to the world in order to keep it`s balance.

Hence Parvati became Lord Shiva`s best student and lord Shiva became Parvati`s teacher.

 Parvati would ask Shiva questions about the cosmos, and every answer would spark even more questions. While Shiva would answer these, great truths would be revealed to the world. Truths, that Shiva had discovered during his thousands of years of meditation.

Sitting on Kailasha (Kailasha is the mountain where Shiva lived and practiced Yoga and Meditation), Shiva explained Parvati the secrets of the cosmos, he answered every question that Parvati would have.

While answering these questions, Shiva started coming closer to worldly matters, he grew curious himself as he would study and find answers for Parvati. Now Shiva always had Parvati by his side.

He announced to the world, revealing a truth, “He who escapes from joy and sorrow, instead of living and dealing with them, is a fool and he shall forever fail to see the truth. And he who is only a part of pleasures and pains of life, is also a fool, he shall also never discover the truth. The truth lies in balance, in harmony, between body, mind and soul. It is the balance between individual and society.”

While revealing the truth to the world, Shiva makes an important point where he communicates that the truth is not in renouncing the world, it is not in extreme meditation, it is in the balance of things that you find the truth of life. This means that we must always enjoy the sorrows and pleasures of life while balancing them with the meditation and discovery of the self.

I am sure that whoever reads this would take the underlying life principle behind this rather than pondering about the reality of these events. The storey of Lord shiva is a tool to lead a better, peaceful human life .

Ohm Namashivaya

Sakthi Sakthithasan

Thanks to Dr Nilima Chitgopekar

Lord Shiva , Brahma and the World that is . . . .

As my quest to learn about Lord Shiva grows I come across lot of material that I read. It is very interesting that each incident or happening of events involving Lord Shiva has a deep rooted Spiritual message behind it.
It is not my intention to preach religious information or teach religion it is a fact that lot of legendary stories that we have gives us an important virtue to lead a life that promotes love and peace toward other religions and all the humans.

Here I am sharing such an interesting piece of information that I come across.

Shiva was examining Brahma’s creation one day and realized that all he could see and hear were sounds of plight, frustration, anger, hate and sadness. Shiva was disheartened, he grew full of pain himself and wept.

He went to Brahma. By now Brahma already had five heads, four to look around and see the daily functioning of the world and the fifth to hold his pride.

Shiva went to Brahma and said: “Brahma, what have you done, what have you created, all I see is sadness and hate in this world.”

Brahma, who was filled with pride, ignored what Shiva had to express. He continued to do as he pleased. This filled Shiva with rage and anger. He took the form of Bhairava, and ripped of Brahma’s fifth head, the one which held his pride. (Bhairava is another name for Shiva which originated from this story, and literally means “frightful”)

Brahma now aware and fearful of Shiva hurriedly began to explain, “Dear Lord, I have not filled the world with sadness, I have merely created it. The world that I created is neither filled with sadness nor with happiness; it is neither beautiful nor ugly, the world JUST IS. What anyone may think of it is just their perception”.

Shiva argued, “But you created the mind, which creates these perceptions.”

Brahma replied to that, “The mind can be deluded by perceptions or can be enlightened by truth. But how one makes this choice is often the difference between the successful and those who fail in their endeavors?

The Meaning

There are two very strong messages that Shiva shares here. First, pride must be ended in all circumstances. Pride makes us think and look beyond subjects that matter and deludes further our perception of the world, i.e. pride in itself becomes a concern for us, and we forget to think about the more important aspects of life like relationships, friendships, our dharma, happiness etc and all that takes over our minds is pride, which actually does not matter. Pride makes people careless and complacent for which they usually have to pay heavily later.

The second lesson that Shiva gives us is that everything that we see is based on a perception that we have of the world. None of which may be true. Hence, what we see is merely one possible scenario which may or may not be true. Given this knowledge we should always try and look at the world with the most positive perspective possible to manifest greater happiness in our lives, as looking at life through a perspective of  pain and pessimism itself is the source of suffering. 

Have you ever thought of the question that Brahma asks Shiva “The mind can be deluded by perceptions or can be enlightened by truth? But how one makes this choice is often the difference between the successful and the not so successful?”

I hope that the above piece of information helps you to have your thoughts provoked in a possitive direction.

Sakthi Sakthithasan

(Thanks ------ Dr. Nilima Chitgopekar    Please visit  http://www.theshivaexperience.com )

Detachment and Shiva

 

The main characteristic of Shiva is detachment.

Why detachment is so important?

In our daily life we come across lots of events. Some of them bring us happiness, some of them bring us sadness, some of them bring us stress and anxiety and some of them bring us anger and frustrations.

But all of the above events will play havoc with our emotions. without a proper handle on our emotions we will ride on an emotional rollercoaster and this is not in the best interest of our health .

When we speak about Lord Shiva we come across lot of people who might ridicule the beliefs that we have on the basis of atheism. Spiritual belief is not something that you believe anything and everything.

Teachings of Shiva have a basis. It is encouragement of a pure life. When I say detachment and pure life it does not mean that one has to leave the worldly relationships and commitments and take up a life away from family and friends.

Lord Shiva`s teachings are to lead a happy family life. Detachment is powerful weapon to combat the daily stress and strain of the worldly troubles.

I am not a sage or a scholar on religious affairs or someone with fanatical religious beliefs. I am merely a person who is living an average family life with average relationships. But before I embarked upon knowing more about Lord Shiva and his teachings I had many unanswered questions with lots of confusion hanging over the events that took place in my life.

I am not claiming that I am a trouble free learned person. I still have problems and confusions but these do not disturb me as they used to be before . I have more explanations for what happens in my life.

Through this quest for knowing more I am slowly experiencing the benefit of Detachment. By detaching one’s self from his life in mind it is amazing to look at your life as a third person . And it is fascinating that the cause and the solutions for your problems in life lie within yourself.

Ones you start to realize this your ego starts to dissolve and your appreciation of the people around you and their life begins to unravel within yourself.

I am only in the first step of the great ladder that Shiva provided. I have many, many more steps to climb but it is my intention to share my experiences and record them as the present writings are the mirror of our times to the future generations.

Even though we all have different cultural background and different religious beliefs we are all of the basic human kind with respect and love for each other. The best way to serve god is to be a considerate human and have respect for each other and their beliefs.

This is what Lord Shiva said.

Om Namashivaya

Sakthi Sakthithasan

 What is Sivam ?

Sivam is complete 

Sivam is universe  

Sivam has no beginning or no end 

Sivam is our soul

Sivam is our life

Sivam is the breath that keeps us alive

Sivam has no division

Sivam is love, love is Sivam

Sivam is peace
We are within Sivam yet Sivam is within us
Sivam is the  boundless energy that exists to effect good deeds
In the religious ladder there are several steps in the form of different deities . We climb the ladder with the help of each step, as we advance and take a step up our view towards the world that we live in changes accordingly. Slowly our aim in life start to come out of vicious selfish circle and the true meaning of detachment begin unravel within our self.

Once we have climbed to the top we pass the boundaries of religion and it does not matter which god you believe in but your mind embraces the universal fact of spiritual awakening.

The theory of Siva`s wisdom reiterates this fact. Due to this only the true meaning of Sivam demonstrates itself in love that we show towards the other souls. 

Siva states that "it the body that suffers the end but the soul does not die it takes another form" As it enters a new body the soul will cleanse it self as long as it searched for the truth that sustains the true values of a good human.

Sivam never divide people ------- Sivam unifies everyone in this universe

Humbly
Sakthi Sakthithasan